A Never Ending Game!

It was during the 2004 Tennis French Open when Fabrice Santoro beat Arnaud Clement 6-4, 6-3, 6-7, 3-6, 16-14. The match which took place for 6 hours and 33 minutes was considered the longest tennis match ever until day before yesterday.


Wimbledon 2010 was in progress on 23rd of June, when John Isner faced Nicolas Mahut. They had been playing a grueling match for 10 hours and the score-card displayed as 6-4, 3-6, 6-7, 7-6, 59-59. The day grew dark and the match was said to continue the next day (yesterday). But the record was already made.


The match ended with the last set reading as 70-68 as John Isner moved on to the second round. The time read out as 11 hours 5 minutes - The Longest Ever.


A tribute to both Isner and Mahut for "The Greatest Game Ever Played"!

When Isner Won

Karbon Kamaal Catch!

I'm not used to post others posts in my blog, but I read this one and I kind of liked it. It's about the "catch-phrases" used in the IPL.

Posted by Sam Garfield at Cricinfo Blogs.


"The tournament is just over a week old but we already have one clear winner: “Karbon Kamaal Catch” has gone effortlessly past terms such as “DLF Maximum” and “Citi Moment of Success” to emerge as the most nauseating term in cricket.
The clincher is of course the word Kamaal, which translates to “magically wonderful”. So when the commentator gushes about a dolly at cover being a Kamaal catch, it makes the sellout even more pathetic. And then he goes on about how a missed catch could have been a Karbon Kamaal Catch and how a Karbon Kamaal Catch was also a Citi Moment of Success.
But this is the one I’m waiting for: "Ah, that could have been a Karbon Kamaal Catch, but it is a DLF Maximum, and that’s a Citi Moment of Success."
I wonder if the corporates who hand out the cash to make commentators go silly ever worry about ridicule."

2011 Cricket World Cup Matches Announced!

ICC has announced the matches for the 2011 WC. ICC has aimed for the shorter WC and the Super-8 group has been replaced by the old method Quarter-Finals. 14 teams have been split into 2 groups and a team has to end in the top 4 in the group to get to the Quater-Finals, after which the tournaments becomes a knock-out stage. The matches to be played in Pakistan has to shifted to Sri Lanka. Pakistan will play all their matches in Sri Lanka, however they will be welcomed to India if they reach the finals.

The teams are -

Group A - Australia, Pakistan, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Canada, Kenya.

Group B - India, South Africa, England, West Indies, Bangladesh, Ireland, Netherlands.

Indian matches are as follows,

Feb 19 - India vs Bangladesh - Mirpur
Feb 27 - India vs England - Kolkata
Mar 6 - India vs Ireland - Bangalore
Mar 9 - India vs Netherlands - Delhi
Mar 12 - India vs South Africa - Nagpur
Mar 20 - India vs West Indies - Chennai

Quarter finals - Mar 23 (Mirpur), 24 (Colombo), 25 (Mirpur), 26 (Ahmedabad)
Semi finals - Mar 29 (Colombo), 30 (Mohali)
Finals - Apr 2 (Mumbai)

Matches at Chennai:

Feb 20 - Kenya vs New Zealand
Mar 6 - England vs South Africa
Mar 17 - England vs West Indies
Mar 20 - India vs West Indies

Indian Cricket Rankings

I just went through the Cricket Rankings for the Test and ODI teams and players at CricInfo.

First of all, India Ranks 3rd in both Test and ODI. India is clearly ahead of the fourth ranked team and only constant poor performance for months together alone will lower India's rank. But India is not far from the 2nd ranked team.

Then I checked the Player Rankings.

ODI Player Rankings:

Bastmen:

1. MS Dhoni
2. Yuvraj Singh
7. V Sehwag

No bowlers in top 10.

Yuvraj ranks 8th in all rounders

Test Player Rankings:

Batsmen:

1. Gautam Gambhir

Bolwers:

6. Harbhajan Singh
10. Zaheer Khan

All Rounders:

10. Harbhajan Singh

Gautam Gambhir being on top was a surprise for me. I knew he would be on top 10 but never expected him to be on the top.